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100 Octane

Our Veterans of Foreign Wars post commander served as a gunner's mate on board a coastal tanker classed as an AOG, or gasoline tanker, during World War II. Asked what type of guns he manned, James O. Shaw replied, "fire axes." If an air raid alert was sounded while pumping aviation gas to a carrier, they were ordered to grab the nearest fire axe, chop their mooring lines immediately, and clear the carrier as soon as possible. The ship and her volatile cargo were to proceed to the farthest corner of the harbor, and do their best not to attract any attention by firing at the attacking Japanese. Shaw noted that the USS Kaloli (AOG-13) never fired a round in anger.

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